Give Nonviolence a Chance is a treasure trove of articles that showcase the peace initiatives and nonviolent campaigns of the peace activist, author, educator and philosopher, Neelakanta Radhakrishnan who devoted his entire life to the cause of peace and nonviolence and in reinterpreting and restructuring Gandhi's Peace Army, the Shanti Sena. Edited by Anoop Swarup, an internationally known scholar and peace activist and Chair, Center for Global Nonkilling, the book provides an inside view of several major campaigns.

Monday, September 5, 2016

Gandhi Journal Article-II ( September 2016 )

Kabir and Gandhi as Apostles of Human Unity
Transcending Religion and Caste-based Distinctions

By Saral Jhingran

Kabir asserted the
basic unity of all human beings not on the basis of some spiritual hypothesis
of God's immanence in every heart, but on a very rational and scientific basis.
Shorn of conventional man-made distinctions, basically, all human beings are
the same, according to him. He derives a morality of compassion and
non-violence from his basic thesis of unity of all living beings. The paper
argues that Kabir's vision of the essential unity of all human beings can
provide an idealistic foundation to all our efforts at both the resolution of
mutual conflicts and restoring dignity to the downtrodden. The Mahatma's
interpretation of the same vision gives us two messages which can contribute to
realizing the above goals. They are: sincere religious toleration of and
respect for other faiths on the basis of a frank acknowledgement of the
possible faults of our own religion; and the need to see the 'Divine' in the
hearts of the 'dumb millions', which must in turn lead us to the service of
those millions as the only way to realize the 'Divine' in our hearts.

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Gandhi Journal Article-I (May 2016)

And then Gandhi came

By Dr. Savita Singh

9 January 2015 marked the centenary of Mahatma Gandhi's return to India after his 21 years sojourn in South Africa. The day is now celebrated as the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas under the auspices of the Ministry of External Affairs.

Thus 9 January came to assume special significance after 11 September 2006 when Satyagraha, the most potent weapon discovered by Mahatma Gandhi completed its hundredth anniversary. It is a tribute not only to Mahatma Gandhi's leadership in India's struggle for independence but also to the contributions made by immigrant Indian in the country of their adoption and helped built bridges between the country of their origin and the country of their adoption. 9 January 2015, therefore, calls for special commemorative programmes appropriate for the historic occasion.

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Gandhi's ahimsa inspired Gujarati woman to study abroad in 1930

When the country was struggling for its independence, female liberation was a far-fedged thought. Yet the courage imbued in Chandan Parekh Kalelkar by Mahatma Gandhi's resolve made her one of the first women from Kathiawad in the 1930s to earn a Master's degree abroad. (She got a Master's degree in sociology and psychology from Boston University.)

Chandan Kalelkar's daughter, Shailaja Parikh, says that on March 3, 1939, her mother experienced at first hand Bapu's commitment to his principles in the face of violence at one of his fasts in Rajkot. This experience transformed her mother into a woman of great courage, says Shailaja.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

"I appreciate your words replete with love and goodwill as
your blessings for me...," barrister Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi had said
exactly one hundred years ago after his historic homecoming after spending 22
years in South Africa.

Mumbai Sarvodaya Mandal along with other Gandhian institutions in
Mumai and University of Mumbai organised a special programme to commemorate the
Centenary of Gandhi's return to India on Friday, 9th January 2015.

In a newpaperthat reinterprets Gandhi's legacy, Stanford'sSaumitra Jha, an associate professor of political economy, examines the potential and pitfalls of non-violent disobedience. His co-author is Rikhil Bhavnani, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Too often, nonviolent civil disobedience fails, they wrote. "The key lesson of India's successful movement is sometimes reduced to the simple but rather unhelpful admonition, 'Find another Gandhi,' who can lead through individual charisma," Jha said in an interview.